“We don’t really ‘hold a grudge.’ Grudges coil around us like boa constrictors and slowly crush the life out of us.”
(Scotty Smith)
“When you open your doors on Sunday morning, a world of brokenness files in.”
(Jared C. Wilson)
“Many of us cannot reach the mission fields on our feet, but we can reach them on our knees. Solid, lasting missionary work is accomplished by prayer, whether offered in China, India or the United States.”
(J.O. Fraser)
“Death is like a great ocean, and we are on this shore seeing people depart. But every ocean has two shores, and every person we see depart is seen as arriving on that other shore. Death is not the end. Just as birth was our ticket to this world, so death is our ticket to the next. It is less of an end than a beginning. If I told you today I would move you from the slums to a beautiful country estate, you would not focus on the life you were ending, but the life you were beginning.”
(Randy Alcorn)
“Joy is to be found in Heaven now by anticipation and later by realization. Joyful are those people who have two feet upon the earth, but who breathe Heaven’s air.”
(Steven J. Lawson)
“If you dwell on your own feelings about things rather than dwelling on the faithfulness, the love, and the mercy of God, then you’re likely to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Our feelings are very fleeting and ephemeral, aren’t they? We can’t depend on them for five minutes at a time. But dwelling on the love, faithfulness, and mercy of God is always safe.”
(Elisabeth Elliot)
“We have a Christian duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.”
(William Barclay)
“Patience means living out the belief that God orders everything for the spiritual good of his children.
Patience does not just grin and bear things, stoic-like, but accepts them cheerfully as therapeutic workouts planned by a heavenly trainer who is resolved to get you up to full fitness.
Patience, therefore, treats each situation as a new opportunity to honor God in a way that would otherwise not be possible, and acts accordingly.”
(J. I. Packer, Pointing to the Pasturelands)
“For thousands of years, the pace of life was 3 miles an hour.”
“Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.”
(Timothy Keller)
“Never describe the view of an opponent in a way he or she will not own. Rather describe their view so they say, ‘I couldn’t have put it better myself.’ Only then should you proceed to refute the view. If instead, you caricature your opponent – you persuade no one.”
(Timothy Keller)
“Our culture has accepted two huge lies:
One: If you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them.
Two: To love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do.
Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.”
(Rick Warren)
“You can love without agreeing with someone. You can disagree without hating them.”
(Timothy Keller)
“I don’t trust anyone in politics unless they dish out warranted criticism to both sides.”
(Collin Hansen)
“To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to teach and so much misery we could alleviate. It seems that ambition and avarice know no boundaries. Yet life goes on with too many living in a kind of shapeless idleness. Recreation becomes the goal of life. Pubs abound, sports are perpetually proliferating, gambling consumes many, and almost any form of entertainment is pursued to fill the void created by a meaningless life. Year after year goes by in unprofitable pursuit.”
(William Wilberforce, Real Christianity – 1797)
“You cannot impart what you do not possess. You will never preach or teach above your level of understanding.”
“The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray.”
(Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea)
“Comparison is the thief of joy. It is a snare to compare.”
“Above all, fear the LORD and worship him faithfully with all your heart; consider the great things he has done for you.”
(1 Samuel 12:24 CSB)